[Aquifina]

Originally Posted by ultimatemegax

Spoiler for answer:

Novel 4 is a collection of short stories which were all serialized in The Sneaker or Wilderness Era (except the final one, which was newly written for the novel) that tend to focus on Houtarou/Eru (with the Valentine's Day story differing). After it was published, Yonezawa wrote another short story that was serialized in Wilderness Era. That story was adapted for episode 18 and will be included with BD/LE DVD volume 9. Since then, Yonezawa wrote another set of stories which was published as volume 5 since it was one long story and the other short story couldn't be included with it. He also wrote another short story which details why Mayaka acts how she does towards Houtarou which was serialized in Wilderness Era this year. Thus we have two short stories which were serialized, but not published in novel form and one novel which was serialized prior to publication.

Spoiler for Novels...:

I'm curious--if you have the time, could you elaborate a little bit more on how the Valentine's Day story is different in the novel? Thanks for all the info you've given before!